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Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Excited to get this done this weekend! I have had it on my to-do list for about 18 months.

It was such an easy pattern, thanks Christa! Just a couple of hours of sewing and ironing of seams and my soul (see last week's post comments below) has certainly been soothed! I am half way to completing this for my QAL#3 challenge list.

I had already made the main squares last weekend so just needed to add the grey background blocks.

LAST WEEK'S POST: On Saturday I took a very necessary couple of hours of time-out from trying to sort the annual finances report for the local swimming pool society (of which I am secretary-treasurer, but an accountant I am not, so that is an entirely different story altogether!)

I put my brain onto getting these squares together instead, as well as the sashing/block filler strips for the String of Pearls quilt, with the Remix ovals that I collected up last month.

I'm looking forward to getting it all put together this weekend hopefully!! My soul needs to sew!!

Friday, August 8, 2014

Ahh, the bonus of a snow day closing school!! I had most of the binding on this last night and figured the rest would have to wait until after netball tonight...but spent all night listening to a winter storm bringing rain, wind, hail, and snow...not enough to fully cover our land here on the flat, but enough to disrupt all the buses and close the schools. Obviously I was not too upset as I knew exactly how to fill my day!

This panel measures about 29" x 39". (I have no clue as to the maker of the panel, sorry - just that I bought it at Spotlight on special about two years ago.)

The binding is actually a Paddington Bear design (I still have the original book that I had when I was little) - when I first pulled it from my stash I figured it was just a stylised flower or tessellated design and it wasn't until I read the selvage label that I realised it is Paddington with his hat on!

I wanted to keep the quilt quite soft, so it has a flannel backing and is only moderately quilted (another good chance to practice FMQ skills, thought I kept it pretty basic!)

Some scallops for the pram hood and basket, with some stippled loops and hearts in the background.

Pebbles, echo stitching or in-the-ditch stitching for the motifs.

Echo stitching around the words.

A daisy petal stitching over the flowers.

I was reading about quilt thefts in the USA and in Australia, one blogger mentioning that many quilters hide a strand of hair or sliver of special fabric inside their quilts. Going through my stash boxes I had found this old pair of pink gingham overpants from when I was a baby (now 4 decades ago, sigh) and thought it would be perfect to use as my 'identity marker'. I have cut a tiny piece and slipped it inside the binding. I don't know if quilt theft is a big issue in NZ but I do like to think a tiny piece of my history is in the quilt too.